Quotations on divorce from Hillary R. Clinton, It Takes a Village,
and her column
Mrs. Clinton favors reducing divorce by making people with children wait
several years for a non-consensual no-fault divorce, as is done in many
European countries. She says that mandatory counseling before divorce should
be considered, though she does not completely advocate it at this time;
it needs to be discussed fully. She may be open to further reforms later
on.
Just as importantly, in more cultural, rather than legal, terms, Mrs. Clinton
stands for the proposition that we need to reassert the normal family as
the norm, and be willing to express social disapproval of people who create
abnormal families without compelling or unavoidable reasons.
(The summary above is based on her book and on a later C-Span "Booknotes"
interview, show #352 airing on 3/3/96)
Column--
As the moral consequences of America's soaring divorce rate have
become clear, even leading Democrats are voicing their support for stricter
divorce laws. In her syndicated newspaper column, for instance, First Lady
Hillary Clinton recently wrote, "I think getting a divorce should be
much harder when children are involved. . . . Divorce has become too easy
because of our permissive laws and attitudes." She goes on to say,
"The good news is that attitudes about marriage and divorce seem to
be changing. Some states are beginning to examine whether their divorce
laws are too lax. Grass-roots campaigns to help preserve marriage are flourishing
around the country."
-- Elizabeth Schoenfeld, "Drumbeats for Divorce Reform," Heritage
Foundation Policy Review May-June 1996, Number 77, accessed at http://www.policyreview.org/may96/homef.html
on August 16, 2004.
It Takes a Village--
"Children without fathers, or whose parents float in and out of their
lives after divorce, are the most precarious little boats in the most turbulent
seas."
Hillary R. Clinton, It Takes a Village, p.40
"Recent studies demonstrate convincingly that while many adults claim
to have benefited from divorce and single parenthood, most children have
not.
"Children living with one parent or in stepfamilies are two to three
times more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems as children
living in two-parent families. ... A parent's remarriage often does not
seem to better the odds."
Hillary R. Clinton, It Takes a Village, pp. 39-40
"[Non-nuclear families can work, but] every society requires a critical
mass of families that fit the traditional ideal, both to meet the needs
of most children and to serve as a model for other adults who are raising
children in difficult settings. We are at risk of losing that critical mass
in America today."
Hillary R. Clinton, It Takes a Village, p. 50
"I recently received a letter from a 15-year-old boy in Louisiana [who
said,] 'It is not fair to me or my mom that she has to be mother and father
to me and my little brother. It makes no sense to me.' It should make no
sense to any of us."
Hillary R. Clinton, It Takes a Village, p. 41
"With divorce as easy as it is, and its consequences so hard, people
with children need to ask themselves whether they have given a marriage
their best shot and what more they can do to make it work before they call
it quits."
Hillary R. Clinton, It Takes a Village, p. 43
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